[ASA] SkyMapper observing time for sale

[Christian Wolf]

Dear colleagues,

After five years of successful operations, direct community access to the SkyMapper telescope through the Open Time facility concluded in June 2019.

In order to help cover the operational costs of completing the SkyMapper Southern Sky Survey, which will be publicly available, the ANU has decided to make a fraction of time on SkyMapper available to purchase.

If you are interested in purchasing observing time on SkyMapper, please send your inquiries to Christian Wolf (christian.wolf at anu.edu.au<mailto:christian.wolf at anu.edu.au>) with a short description of your plans. This will serve to open a discussion concerning an appropriate price per night of time. Currently, SkyMapper nights are selling for AU$3-6k per night, depending on type of night (dark/bright), cadence of observations, amount of data processing required, and the total number of nights purchased; please note that a minimum purchase of AU$20,000 applies.

For more information about SkyMapper, please see: https://protect-au.mimecast.com/s/rwOyC3Q8Z2Fn7L88CgQ63P?domain=skymapper.anu.edu.au<https://protect-au.mimecast.com/s/WilmC4QZ1RFXYLjjFxeDgi?domain=skymapper.anu.edu.au>

Most of the SkyMapper observing time will still be dedicated to the public SkyMapper Southern Survey, now expected to be complete in 2021. Note that the third data release (DR3) to the Australian community is currently slated for 31 January 2020 and will provide deep data in all six SkyMapper passbands for 80% of the hemisphere.

Sincerely,
Christian Wolf and SkyMapper Team
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